Quilt guild highlights two Mission quilters in annual show

The Mission Mountain Quilt Guild presents its 33rd Annual Quilt Show from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, June 12, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 13, at the Ronan High School old gym. The 2026 theme is “Oh, My Stars” and features two guild members from St. Ignatius, Terry Clairmont and Shoni Maulding, as well as more than 150 quilts, a Quilters’ Market, and quilting vendors.

The quilt show runs in conjunction with the Chainsaw Carving Rendezvous hosted by the Ronan Chamber of Commerce.

Having fun and learning new things are paramount to the two featured creative quilters. Clairmont started to quilt after she retired from teaching third grade in St. Ignatius for 20 years. It was her hairdresser who told her about a beginners quilting class offered through the adult education program.

Clairmont admits she had “no clue what I was doing,” but quickly fell in love with learning each step of the process. After getting the basics under her belt, she started attending a weekly group, the Thursday Quilters, who meet every week from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Mission. And she joined the guild shortly thereafter, also based on a recommendation.

Clairmont made big quilts for several years for family and grandchildren; the Churn Dash is one of her favorites. She moved on to wall hangings, paper piecing, and applique to try her hand at new techniques. Sometimes, Clairmont says she hates to see a quilt coming to completion as it was so much fun to do.

Maulding loves creating quilts that are not utilitarian, but tell a story in a small space. Some of her pieces are sized down to 12”x12”.

She made her first quilt at 19 when learning to sew with her grandmother on her treadle sewing machine. It will appear in this year’s show.

She seriously started to quilt in 1980 with a Seminole piecing quilt she saw in a book.

Maulding’s family hails from the Bitterroot and Deer Lodge valleys. She and her husband, Ron, moved to St. Ignatius in 2014 where they built their own house.

They started a hitched horsehair business in 1992 and are still active in that business. They’ve published two books, and continue to give beginning and advanced workshops at their home studio.

When they started adding silver to the pieces they created, they elevated their craft to an art form. Maulding says this gave her the confidence to think about art quilts, and she found inspiration from her former mentor, Colleen Fenimore, formerly of Ronan and now living in Arizona, and also from the magazine, Quilting Arts.

Maulding attended the first meeting of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) and presented the idea of creating a quilt as a fundraising item. She designed her quilt with different blocks of ribbon shirts and dresses surrounded by stars. The stars represent the people who have passed or haven’t been found, and also represents hope.

Maulding used some vintage seed sack fabric from her grandmother’s farm to honor her Northern Shoshone heritage. She also created an eight-foot-by-27-inch banner for MMIP members to carry in parades. As she sewed the banner, she focused on a picture of Jermain Charlo, who Maulding felt oversaw the work she was doing. She wrote an article that was published in Quilting Arts about this moving experience.

At the quilt show, Clairmont will display some of her wall hangings and smaller pieces. One piece that Maulding will display depicts her first cup of caffeinated black tea she drank when staying with her Indian great-grandmother. It features a buffalo composed of tea bags, a hand-dyed piece of fabric, and is trimmed with ruffled tea bags.

Each year there are several categories to choose from for guild members to design their show quilts. The public will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite in each category on Friday, with ribbons awarded and hung on Saturday.

Demonstrations are also a big part of the weekend. Raffle tickets, one for $1, or six for $5, are being sold for a paper piecing quilt designed by Judy Niemeyer. Other raffle items include five themed baskets: sewing, gardening, spa, family, and kitchen.

The guild is comprised of nearly 60 members from the Mission Valley, as well as members from Stevensville, Frenchtown, Columbia Falls and Spokane. They meet the first Tuesday of the month (September through June) at the Terrace Lake Community Church in Ronan at 6 p.m. At the meetings, they share their work, and a new skill is taught.

Throughout the year, guild members create TLC quilts for victims of house fires to distribute when the need arises. The guild also enjoys twice-a-year retreats. For more information, attend one of the guild meetings and follow the guild on Facebook @Mission Mountain Quilt Guild.

    Quilt by Terry Clairmont, one of two featured artists at the 33rd annual Mission Mountain Quilt Guild show, held June 12-13 in Ronan. (Courtesy of the artist)